Ground game helps Esty to victory

Dirk Perrefort

Published 9:37 pm, Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Elizabeth Esty gives her acceptance speech after defeating state Sen. Andrew Roraback for the 5th Congressional District at at the CoCo Key Water Resort Convention Center in Waterbury on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012.
Photo: Jason Rearick

Esty's campaign manager, Julie Sweet, said they had an extensive ground game, particularly in Fairfield County, that included hundreds of volunteers who knocked on "tens of thousands of doors and made hundreds of thousands of phone calls" in the run-up to the election.

Sweet said they knew if they could be competitive in smaller towns, which tend to be more conservative -- including Andrew Roraback's stronghold in the state's northwest corner -- then the cities, which are typically more Democratic leaning, "would carry us over the top."

That's exactly what happened Tuesday night.

While Roraback won in 30 of the 41 towns in the district, the margins of victory weren't enough to overcome the tremendous turnout of the Democratic base in the district's cities -- including Danbury, New Britain and Waterbury -- where Esty dominated, in some cases by more than two to one.

"We were able to build an incredible organization of volunteers," Sweet said. "Ultimately, it came down to the get-out-the-vote effort."

He added that in both McMahon and Roraback's campaigns, a focus on being independent and bucking the national Republican Party probably didn't play well with their party's base.

"Roraback has a good reputation, but he didn't light a fire under the party as a candidate," Bellano said.

With her win, Esty keeps the 5th District congressional seat for the Democrats. Republicans had viewed Roraback as one of their best opportunities to get a toehold in New England.

Some say it will likely be a swing district well into the future.

"I think the possibility is there with the right conditions and the right candidate," Bellano said.

Sweet, however, said the "tremendous" amount of support Esty was able to generate in the district will help ensure she is a member of Congress for a long time to come.

Esty said Wednesday she was pleased with the results in Danbury, where she received 14,659 votes to Roraback's 10,770 votes.

She credits the time she spent with community groups, religious organizations and social service organizations.

"I believe that was reflected in how well we did in Danbury," she said.

One of her first priorities when she goes to Washington, she said, will be working on regulations created under the Dodd-Frank Act that are hurting smaller banks' ability to provide loans to small business owners and entrepreneurs.

It was one of the issues Esty and Roraback agreed on during the campaign.

"It's difficult right now for these banks that have always specialized in community lending to put out these loans, get the money moving and create jobs," she said.

Esty added that because it's an issue Republicans also spoke about on the campaign trail, "We should be able to get bipartisan cooperation in Washington to get this done."